I've on and off wondered how "safe" Roth accounts and things like this anti-Roth screed in the LATimes:
While I don't think that Congress will be able to get away with directly taxing qualified Roth withdrawals, I've more and more thought that we're going to end up seeing stuff like qualified Roth withdrawals being included in the taxability-of-SS-benefits calculation or becoming an AMT preference item or maybe even the repealed-in-1997 excess accumulation tax on IRAs returning and applying to Roth IRA distributions in excess of some amount.
Now, certainly if your trad IRA contribution is going to be non-deductible then making a Roth contribution (or tIRA contribution followed by immediate conversion if your income doesn't allow the full Roth contribution) is pretty much a no-brainer.
But in other cases, especially if you are in the 25% federal bracket or higher, what do you think? Better to at least get the certain bird in hand (the current-year tax deduction)? Or pay the taxes now figuring rates will be higher later but that the fisc won't be so bad that Rothees will be screwed by stuff like above? Where do you see it going?